Office Depot sees interest in green products growing despite softening economy; 69 percent of small businesses say they practice green behaviours
Contract sales of items represented in 2007 Green Book grew over 10 percent from $660 million to $725 million
Office Depot announced that statistics continue to support the claim that “green” is important for today’s business professionals and consumers. According to Office Depot, sales of environmentally preferable products represented in The Green Book, the Company’s catalogue of green products, increased by more than 10 percent in the contract channel in 2007. This can be attributed in part to a growing interest in green behaviours by small businesses, according to a survey released by Office Depot. The survey found:
· Sixty-nine percent of small business professionals participate in one or more of the following activities: recycle paper, bottles, ink cartridges and/or technology; purchase Energy Star rated technology, recycled paper, remanufactured ink and toner cartridges, refillable products and compact fluorescent light bulbs; and print on both sides of the paper.
· Eighty-five percent of respondents claim they are doing so for one of two reasons: to protect the environment, or to save money.
According to Office Depot, sales of environmentally preferable products represented in the 2007 Green Book, increased by more than 10 percent in the contract channel in the
“Office Depot launched the Green Book in 2003, five years before our primary competitors followed our lead,” said Steve Schmidt, Executive Vice President of the Business Solutions Division for Office Depot. “What these Green Book sales numbers tell us is that our customers appreciate Office Depot’s strategy of providing a wide assortment of green products, and promoting them within innovative sales vehicles.”
For the contract channel, Office Depot attributes the growth of green sales in the channel to the trend towards going green among large government and private sector accounts. The Company also claims some credit for this trend due to its comprehensive effort (featured in The Green Book) to educate customers on what it means to go green, and how to do so at the office.
“Throughout 2007 and 2008, Office Depot was extremely active in creating educational materials and guides to help our customers go green,” said Yalmaz Siddiqui, Director of Environmental Strategy for Office Depot. “We are very excited to see our efforts being well-received by our customers and rewarded through increased sales of greener office products.”
Efforts that Office Depot undertook to “sell green” in 2007 and 2008 included:
· Introducing Office Depot’s biggest Green Book, which featured nearly 3,000 greener office products;
· Creating a “Greener Office” website with over 5,000 green products including an interactive vignette that brings together all types of office products – supplies, furniture and technology – to help customers understand the key elements of a greener office (www.officedepot.com/yourgreeneroffice);
· Distributing and delivering two presentations – Debunking the Myths about Going Green and Smal